Evan Watkins

OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Ethical Communities Worksheet
Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the four ethical communities
2. Apply the ethical communities to your personal case situation

Complete the following making sure to support your ideas and cite from the textbook and other
course materials per APA guidelines. After the peer review, you have a chance to update this and
format for your Electronic Portfolio due in Module 6.

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

The situation from module 1 that I chose to focus on was the Amazon distribution
warehouses and how they are unsafe as well as employees being strictly monitored.
Employees in these warehouses are closely watched and timed when on breaks regardless
of the reason for the break. The role I chose to undertake was to be an employee in one of
the warehouses so that I may better understand what it is like working in them from an
internal perspective.

2) Describe how the ethics of the organization influenced the situation.

I think that the ethics of Amazon as an organization influenced the situation of

over monitoring of employees because they are all about a fast and effective process in
order to make the most money. At the soul of Amazon is a company trying to make life
easier for others but unfortunately the workers in Amazon warehouses do not feel the
same way. It seems they have been neglected and ethics aren’t too common in the
distribution center.

The employees are treated almost if they are robots who autonomously sort and
package items to be sent out. What Amazon seems to forget is that “We are social beings,
attuned to cues and expectations from our workplace and our colleagues about what to do
and not to do” (Bolman & Deal, 2003, pg. 388). The employees expect to be treated well
for their hard work and robotic daily tasks and instead are greeted with strict guidelines
on breaks.

3) Recommend how you would apply one of the ethical communities for an alternative
course of action regarding your case.

One of the ethical communities I would apply to my situation with Amazon

would be The Family: Caring and Love. “Love is largely absent from most modern

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corporations” (Bolman & Deal, 2003, pg. 392). Perhaps a bit of love and compassion is
all we would need in a more modern organization such as Amazon. It would allow
employees to better connect with each other in the workplace instead of fearing to talk
with one another as to not waste precious time.
This would even perhaps foster better relations with management and the
warehouse employees and help them understand that it is pretty rough doing a robotic
task and constantly being monitored. An efficient team is a happy team! Perhaps they
could make even more money with employees who are actually happy at their job and not
forced to perform like robots’ day in and day out.

4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about ethics.

Given what I have learned about ethics, I don’t think there is much I would do
differently in terms of Amazons Ethics as an organization. However, their warehouse
distribution centers could use a little love. If they were to focus their ethics on what is
going on within the warehouses, they would perhaps see what is going wrong and maybe
even foster the idea of The Family: Caring and Love.
Everyone wants to feel like they are a part of a family… even in the workplace. It
helps you realize you’re not in this situation alone and that other people care about you
and don’t just view you as a machine or hired labor. The soul of Amazon is the people
that work for them, not the consumers which they seem to be primarily focused on.
Shifting this perspective may help in overall efficiency and increase profits while
maintaining a happy customer base.

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Reference or References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2003). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and
leadership